The modern talent market was built on a series of asymmetries, which are further compounded by an imbalance of power. Much of the time, even during “candidate-driven” markets (when labor is in short supply), employers have had the upper hand. As buyers of labor, up until recently companies have been able to effectively control pricing by obscuring salary information. The hyper-local nature of talent markets further tipped the scales in the favor of employers.

The pandemic, the rise of remote work, salary transparency legislation at the state level and social media have changed all that. Job seekers today have more information than at any point in history about the places they might want to work, and they also have far more choice. It is no longer necessary to relocate to broaden your job prospects. There is also a lot more “noise,” and it can be really challenging when trying to navigate the post-pandemic talent market to get good “signal.” Here are five things that you can look out for, to help you make more informed decisions about where to work next:

1. Implausible Salary Ranges On Job Postings

Currently ten states have enacted some form of pay transparency legislation, and absent any federal-level rules, companies are choosing how to respond. The most forward-thinking companies have accepted the inevitable and have moved to complete nationwide salary transparency, which is of course a good thing. The majority of companies however are resisting, likely because doing so will cause them to have really uncomfortable conversations internally.

This in itself can give you pretty good signal as a job seeker: companies that are posting ranges that show $0 - $1 million or $50,000 - $400,000 are at best conforming to the letter, if not the spirit, of the law. At worst it could be classed as “malicious compliance.” Similarly, companies that have operations in many or all states, but are only complying with pay transparency in select sates (e.g., just for the roles they have in California or New York), should give you pause. It is much harder to operationalize partial compliance at the state level, so companies that are going to extra lengths to do so are probably not the most employee-centric.

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